Iran has turned sanctions into opportunities: Jalili

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator has said that the Islamic Republic has turned the sanctions into opportunities.
Since the 1979 Iranian Revolution and the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty, “when the Iranian people toppled the dictatorship and democratically elected their own government, various U.S. administrations have been hostile to Iranian people,” Saeed Jalili said in a recent interview with RT Arabic.

Particularly within past two years, Washington has been taking hostile actions against the Islamic republic, “including the introduction of sanctions,” Jalili noted.

Iran managed to turn that pressure “into opportunities.” The country progressed in its scientific development and is currently “the 17th largest economy in the world,” Jalili said.

In his opinion, the U.S. failed to achieve any success through the path it has taken. On the contrary, by imposing economic sanctions the United States “denied opportunities” for its own citizens to do business with.

“The U.S. government must appreciate that the behavior they have shown in the past decades towards the Iranian people produced nothing,” he added.

Commenting on Iran’s talks with world powers, Jalili said, “When we talk about building confidence it must not be translated to be a denial of rights of any nation, rather it must be related to behavior and conduct that helps to facilitate cooperation between the two parties.”